"All this region is very level and full of forests, vines and butternut trees. No Christian has ever visited this land and we had all the misery of the world trying to paddle the river upstream." Samuel de Champlain

Sections of rivers stinking with masses of rotting vegetation are fairly common in Prince Edward Island, but the problem of anoxic waterways has gradually been getting worse, with more events occurring this summer. Anoxia is a lack of oxygen caused by excessive nutrients in waterways which triggers algae growth. When the plants die and decay, oxygen is stripped from the water, which then turns green or milky white and gives off a strong rotten egg odour. These anoxic events, which can last for several days or weeks, kill sections of rivers and can be deadly for fish—especially shellfish that can’t swim out from under the thick carpet of dead algae.

Nutrients enter rivers from a number of sources including farming practices, septic systems, wastewater management, and clear-cut logging. Milder winters in recent years have been blamed for exacerbating the problem. Some rivers are now experiencing anoxic events up to three times in a season, with the events occurring earlier in the year and lasting longer. At least 18 estuaries are currently anoxic, says (provincial surface water biologist)Crane, adding that preventing nutrients from entering waterways presents “quite a challenge.”

Environment, Energy and Forestry Minister Richard Brown said in a statement last week that reducing the amount of nutrients entering the island’s rivers and bays “requires long-term solutions and the support of many stakeholders.” Steps taken by the government to address the problem include increasing support to watershed groups, improving erosion control, increasing buffer zones, and banning the spreading of septic waste on land.

Eric Clements, coordinator with the Mill River Engineering Research Project, lives in northwestern P.E.I. just up the bank from Mill River, which has had several anoxic events. He points to provincial and federal reports based on long-term groundwater monitoring stations as well as other studies showing that watersheds across the island are plagued with nitrate contamination from intensive farming practices. He is critical of what he says is the government’s lack of action over the years that allowed the situation to deteriorate to this point, and his organization is currently looking into launching a court challenge as well as pushing for a nitrate contamination investigation. Noting that the United Nations has called nutrients in waterways “the most damaging class of pollutants in the marine environment,” Clements says reducing potato contracts to farmers and increasing wetlands, which act as natural filters, would go a long way toward addressing the problem in P.E.I."

I'm the second generation of my family that lives in Richelieu, Quebec, in Canada. My family tree, both from my mother's and my father's side, has its roots in Quebec since the beginning of the 1600s: my ancestors crossed the ocean from France, leaving Perche and Normandy behind them. Both French AND English are my mother tongues: I learned to talk in both languages when I was a baby, and both my parents were perfectly bilingual too.